AKHALKALAK, SEPTEMBER 28, NOYAN TAPAN - ARMENIANS TODAY. The Council
of Armenian NGOs of Samtskhe-Javakhk made a statement, in which it
opposed the statements of Deputy of Georgian parliament Van Bayburdian
in connection with the third public forum of Samtskhe-Javakhk held
on September 24 in Akhalkalak.

In particular, Van Bayburdian expressed an opinion that the proposal
made by the forum regarding giving autonomy to Javakhk is ungrounded
and the Georgian power gave all authorities for ruling on the spot
to Akhalkalak and Ninotsminda.

Blaming Van Bayburdian for "incompetent statements and indecent"
steps, the Council of Armenian NGOs of Samtskhe-Javakhk persuades him
to study the Georgian legislation and then declare what authorities
Akhalkalak and Ninotsminda have. "Van Bayburdian must also know that
the resolution adopted by the forum refers to all the settlements of
Samtskhe-Javakhk and Kvemo-Kartli populated with Armenians and not
only to 2 regions," the statement spread by the A-Info agency read.

The Council highlighted that the resolution adopted by the third public
forum of Samtskhe-Javakhk suggests giving such a status to Javakhk
in Georgian state structure which is suggested to South Ossetia by
the Georgian authorities. "If the authorities are ready to give the
widest autonomy to 40 thousand Ossetians living in South Ossetia, so
150-200 thousand Armenians living compactly in Georgia also deserve
autonomy, especially as they have always observed the laws and never
raised arms against the state," the document read.

The Council is convinced that the bases of complicated situation in
Javakhk are mainly and first of all political and "in this respect
also Van Bayburdian living far from Javakhk and being unaware of
Javakhk problems misunderstood the situation."

"It's still obscure how the person praising Shevardnadze's power and
considering it irreplaceable since the days of Soviet Georgia, appeared
in independent Georgia in Sahakashvili's team having overthrown the
very Shevardnadze. The Council is convinced that Van Bayburdian is
a puppet in the hands of some dark forces and proceeding from his
own interests he can instigate destabilization of the situation and
hatred in Armenian-Georgian friendship," the statement read.

Calls this month by the Akhalkalaki-based Armenian organizations
Javakhk and Virk demanding that Javakheti region be granted autonomy
and its own parliament have revived Georgia's deep-seated paranoia
over separatism.

The organizations are trying to give their entreaty a peaceful and
constructive character and have argued simply that if Tbilisi is
offering similar perks to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, why not to
other regions. But as Georgia's history shows, the idea of autonomy
has involved at best simmering rivalry toward the central government
(as in the case of Aslan Abashidze's Adjara) and at worse bloody
conflict. The forum that was held in Akhalkalaki irritated the Georgian
media and was regarded by many as an event staged by Moscow.

Reactionary print media, in turn, has called on the government to
pay serious attention to statements.

...

The authors of the resolution adopted in Akhalkalaki state that the
Georgian government makes representatives of ethnic minorities live
in unequal conditions. Moreover the authorities have proposed models
for autonomy to minorities in conflict zones that they do not offer
to other ethnicities who constitute a majority in other regions.

Representatives of Javakhk and Virk have not decided yet what to
demand - autonomy for the region, or to pin their hopes on the
establishment of a Georgian federation and becoming a constituent
entity of said federation.

"This can be autonomy, but if there is no autonomy then there can be
a region with the rights of autonomy with its own constitution. It
should be distinguished just what rights the region will have. I
propose that this region should have its own parliament, government
and laws," stated representative of Javakhk Manvel Saltenian, as
quoted by Kronika, whereas Virk member Khachatur Stepanian demanded
that Javakheti be given the status of "federation subject."

---

ARMENIANS IN SOUTHERN GEORGIA DEMAND AUTONOMY... Armenian NGOs in
Georgia's predominantly Armenian-populated southern region of
Djavakheti have written to President Mikheil Saakashvili asking him
to grant the region autonomy within Georgia, Caucasus Press reported
on March 10. Vardan Akopian, who heads the NGO Youth of Djavakhk,
told journalists that the request is problematic insofar as the
Georgian Constitution does not provide for transforming the country
into a federation. But he expressed the hope that the Georgian
authorities "will find democratic approaches to the issues of the
national minorities," and that the granting of autonomy to Djavakheti
will prove to be "the first step towards a new Georgia." LF RFE/RL Newsline - 03/13/2006

...PROTEST MURDER. Some 200 Armenians stormed the local court
building in the Djavakheti town of Akhalkalaki on March 11 to demand
an "objective" investigation into the March 9 killing of an Armenian,
Gevork Gevorkian, in Georgia's southern Tsalka district, Caucasus
Press reported on March 13. Gevorkian was reportedly stabbed to death
in a dispute between three Armenians and five members of Georgia's
Svan minority. Many Svans were resettled in Tsalka in the early
1980s. The Svan suspects have been taken into custody; Van Baiburt,
an ethnic Armenian who is a Georgian parliament deputy, denied that
the killing was ethnically motivated. LF RFE/RL Newsline - 03/13/2006

Javakhk: The “third” Armenia

Today, 100,000 Armenians live in about 100 settlements in Javakhk, Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda, an area of 2,600 square kilometers about 50 kilometers north of Armenia and 30 kilometers east of Turkey.

In terms of its relative homogeneity, Javakhk—95 percent Armenian—is regarded as the world’s “third” Armenian land after Karabakh and Armenia.

To reach Javakhk, you cross the northern border at Ashotsk, Armenia’s “Siberia” and enter the regions of Ninotsminda and Akhalkalaki, the Georgian “Siberia”

“There’s been no summer here. Every year they’re saying it will come but it won’t,” says Mels Bdoyan, a Ninotsminda farmer. Locals claim there is only winter and spring here, some 2,000 meters above sea level. The average annual temperature is only 4 degrees Celsius and in winter the mercury on the thermometer dives to minus 25ºC.

The dividing line between the sky and the mountains is invisible in the blue of the horizon beyond the Alpine meadows or in spring, in the intermingled darkness of the clouds and the snow-capped mountain heights. Nature has become a source of inspiration here, thanks to which Javakhk has begotten many Armenian writers.

In the village of Gandza, Ninotsminda, was born the symbolist poet Vahan Terian whose poems are soaked in images of rain, mist, pallid fields and shapeless shadows deriving from the nature of Javakhk, the home of his childhood and the treasury of his reminiscences. These images became symbols of sadness, hopelessness and peace in the realm of his poetry.

The climate is milder in the neighboring low-lying regions, such as Akhaltskha, Aspindza and Tsalka where there is also a minority Armenian population. Fifteen of 45 villages in Akhaltskha are Armenian, for example.

Akhalkalaki, Ninotsminda, Akhaltskha, Aspindza and another region populated with Georgians were unified in the 1990s to form a single administrative unit—Samtskhe-Javakheti. According to Armenian social figures, the intention behind this move on the part of the Georgian authorities was to create an administrative union where Armenians would be in a minority. This is a Georgian region with the largest Armenian population, amounting to around 160,000.

Javakhk was part of Great Armenia until 387 AD. In 428 it was annexed to Georgia, then under Persian control, and from the 16th to 18th centuries it was part of the Ottoman Empire. After the 1828-29 Russian-Turkish war, Javakhk came under Russian control.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, tens of thousands of Armenians left (present day) Turkey and settled in Javakhk. They were welcomed by the Russians, who saw the Christian Armenians as a safeguard against migration into Georgia by the Ottoman Turks.

The majority of today’s population trace their origins to the emigration from Turkey, mainly from the district of Erzrum. Armenians set up 60 villages and built 50 churches in the regions of Akhaltskha, Akhalkalaki and the adjoining Tsalka.

The passport checkpoint is not the only spot marking the beginning of Javakhk. The Georgian side of the asphalt road from Armenia is in a wretched state, full of deep holes all the way to the town of Ninotsminda. The state of the roads is the first sign of the region’s desolation.

Akhalkalaki means “new town” in Georgian but the only new construction in recent years has been a couple of gas stations. One rarely hears Georgian or Russian spoken in the muddy and broken streets of this town of 10,000 people (it was 15,000 in Soviet times).

The street signs are in Russian, Armenian and Georgian. Business is conducted in four currencies – the Georgian lari, Russian ruble, Armenian dram, and U.S. dollar. Sales people at any store can instantly convert one currency into another and tell you the price of their goods.

“If somebody cares a bit, it will become a normal town,” says Artashes Palanjian, president of Akhalkalaki Socio-Economic Development Organization. “Now it’s neglected and he who comes here once never makes it twice.”

Before the Soviet era, Akhalkalaki was known as a town of 19 trades. Now only one or two remain: a smith and a tinman at the market. The tinman’s workshop is where 43-year-old Zhora Grigorian remembers spending his whole life. He complains that recently there has not been much demand for his services: a year ago, tin hearths were his main source of income, but now there is little interest.

In Soviet years, there were three large factories in the town, making cheese, cement and cables. Now all three stand idle, victims of the Soviet collapse and asset-stripping after the mills were privatized. The people of Akhalkalaki survive in three ways now: by commerce, through working at the Russian military base in the town, and periodically by leaving for Russia to seek work.

The most frequent advertisement on the billboards of Akhalkalaki is “Visa” but it has nothing to do with the credit card. Georgian citizens must have a visa to enter Russia and the notices advertise services that take the Akhalkalaki residents’ passports to Tbilisi to obtain the document.

“Many people become citizens of Armenia so as not to have visa problems. Those working in Russia or in the local Russian bases obtain Russian citizenship and thus the number of Georgian citizens keeps reducing. There are people who have three passports in their pockets,” says Babken Salbiyan, Eparchial Vicar of Javakhk.

Thousands from the region go to Russia for seasonal work. Many of the men build new families in Russia and never return. Sussanna Muradian, president of Motherhood charity organization, said she knew of 108 children whose fathers never came back from Russia.

“The main sources of finance for our community are in Russia. Some come back and some don’t. The fathers of many children were murdered in Russia and the families are in an awful predicament. Children start begging,” she says.

Sussanna works as a guardianship administrator at the educational department. She established the charity to provide medical and other assistance when she became frustrated at her inability to help children through the official state budget. “I walk around knocking on doors here and there to collect money,” she said. “My relatives from Yerevan help me, they gather clothes which I fetch for the kids and their mothers twice a year.”

Twelve-year-old Artur has never seen his father. His mother, Lyusya Serobian lost contact after returning from Russia in 1992 while her husband stayed behind to work.

“He may have gotten married, I don’t know, I have absolutely no information. When I have enough money, I will go and find him,” said Lyusya, 45, who works at the Russian military base.

The father of 14-year-old Gevorg and 16-year-old Volodya died during construction work in Russia. Their mother, Agulya, gathers potatoes to keep the family. “It’s torture all day long but it’s a way to escape starvation,” she said.

The Russian base is the main source of work and around 1,000 people from the town are employed there. Georgian authorities constantly demand the closure of Russian bases on their territory, particularly in Akhalkalaki. Not surprisingly, the local population opposes, and has staged demonstrations in support of the base.

“People working there get $200-300 per month and this money is spent here,” says Davit Rstakian, former acting prefect of the region. “If Russia does withdraw the base, we can’t do anything but if our opinion is important then we’ll do our best to keep it. That base is also a factor in our security.”

Rstakian says the Georgian leadership has often tried to ensure that Armenians do not remain a majority in Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda. “If Georgians grow in number naturally that will be understandable but when they are deliberately trying to change the demographic situation, it’s intolerable,” he said.

In the 1980s, the populations of several Ajarian villages, in the west of Georgia, were relocated to Akhalkalaki. In 1991, the nationalist president Zviad Gamsakhurdia three times appointed governors to the region who were of Georgian nationality but the local population refused to accept them. “We were literally standing in their way, not letting them in, throwing eggs at them,” recalls Rstakian.

Before and after those events only Armenians were in charge of the local administration of the two regions.

There are 70 Armenian schools in the region. But the local Armenian population is unhappy that the history of the Armenian people is not a compulsory subject in school. Instead, it is studied as a supplemental subject, using textbooks from Armenia.

Ethnic tensions do arise, often on religious grounds. Local Armenians regard a new Georgian church built in a former kindergarten in Akhalkalaki and the establishment of a branch of a Tbilisi educational institution for Georgians from neighboring regions as attempts to insert a stronger Georgian identity into an Armenian environment.

Salbiyan, who has served for two years as vicar of the diocese of Samtskhe-Javakheti region, says the Armenian Church faces accusations that it is working for Javakhk independence. “We constantly have to give statements that we bring no war, we bring peace and involve our people in spiritual life, there’s nothing bad about it,” he said.

There are three functioning Armenian churches in Samtskhe-Javakheti: in Akhaltskha, Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda. Eight other churches have opened in villages but they receive visits from the three priests only on special feast days. The Akhalkalaki church hosts a children’s choir, a puppet theater, a Sunday school and a youth union.

Before the Soviet Union, the church used to own a large area of land with buildings, but today dozens of families live in them. Now it owns only half of an old building where Hamo Ohanjanian, Prime Minister of the first Armenian Republic, was born.

The fear of demographic change and the neglected condition of Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda have aroused political concerns, including demands by some groups for the regions to become autonomous. The Virk party wants Georgia to become a federal state in which Javakhk will be a constituent part.

“When Armenians leave for Russia to work they find themselves treated as inferiors,” said Rstakian. “Here, we are the hosts on our land, however there is apprehension. How long will it continue this way, that is to say, will Javakhk remain Armenian? So, this raises the issue of autonomy.”

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutiun) in Yerevan kindles the issue of Javakhk’s autonomy too. The party raised the issue in its assembly this year.

“Every other day they are making statements on behalf of Javakhk, unaware of the problems of Akhalkalaki and where it is,” says Artur Yeremian, the 38-year-old governor of Akhalkalaki. “The new authorities are already amending the law, and the position I occupy will be elected. People will elect whoever they want and this will greatly increase our autonomy.

“Secondly, our region produces a budget of 700,000 lari ($350,000) from its own resources and we have problems even ensuring that sum. Would it be possible to maintain this huge region with that much money? This region gets 3 million lari ($1.5 million) of subsidy from the center each year. How can there be autonomy in such circumstances?”

He insists that the roads will be repaired this year. Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili discussed the issue in March with President Robert Kocharian on his official visit to Armenia.

Ninotsminda and Zhdanovka

The village of Zhdanovka in the Ninotsminda region is 2,200 meters above the sea. The climate is harsh—it can snow here until June—and its 380 villagers can’t understand why their ancestors chose to settle here.

“They are dead already, who’s going to ask them,” says Venik Gomtsian, a resident. “They’ve bequeathed this mistake to us so that we can correct it taking inhuman pains.”

And he does. Ninotsminda is a cattle-breeding region in which the cheese industry is developing. Gomtsian set up the region’s first cheese mill in 1995 and now produces about three tons annually. He sells the cheese to Georgians who come from Tbilisi.

“Georgians pay in advance or later, but they never cheat. Last year, I took 800 kg to Yerevan and they still owe me 200 bucks,” he said.

Half of the milk Venik purchases from his fellow villagers, while his own herd of 55 cows produces the rest. They are milked by his mother Haykanush, wife Darejan and tenth-grade daughter Varduhi, who dreams of finishing school and dashing away to study in Yerevan, where it is warm.

Fifteen families produce cheese in the village while others sell their cattle’s milk to cheese-makers to earn some money. The main source of income for villagers comes from Russia, where almost every family has at least one member who is working. Gomtsian’s son is in the Russian city of Tyumen, working as a trader.

Having made a decent fortune in Russia, one of the villagers of Zhdanovka built the Saint Sargis Church in 1998. The people of Zhdanovka are Catholics, or Franks as the locals say and it is one of 21 Catholic villages in Samtskhe-Javakheti.

My son finished school and went to Russia,” says 66-year-old Mari Antonian. Her son Khnkanos, 31, has worked on construction in various Russian cities for 12 years now, departing in spring and returning in autumn. But he has not returned for the last two years and has said that he is not doing well. Last time, he made $800.

He talks to his three children, aged from 6 to 11, on the phone once a month to quench his yearning for home. Until he sends money, the family survives by selling milk from their four cows to Gomtsian, the cheese-maker.

Antonian’s 29-year-old wife Nina said: “It is difficult without Khnkanos, I wish he had stayed by my side. But how could we live if he did?”

On July 17, Armenian residents of Samsar blocked efforts by students
and nuns from Tbilisi to help restore a local church dating to the
12th century. The Armenians accused the visitors of attempting to
"Georgianize the Armenian church." The verbal argument deteriorated
into a brawl that left several of the Georgians severely injured. That
same day, local Armenians raided a Georgian school in the nearby
town of Akhalkalaki. The police managed to contain the incident,
but the situation in the region remains tense.

The Georgian and Armenian governments have done their best to
hush up the incident. In a July 21 joint statement, the Georgian
Orthodox Church and the Georgian diocese of the Armenian Apostolic
Church expressed regret about the Samsar incident and ascribed it to
"incorrect information circulating among the local population." Vazgen
Mirzakhanian, bishop of the Armenian Diocese of Georgia, apologized
to the Georgian victims.

Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margarian's impromptu visit to Georgia
on July 24-25 evidently sought to relieve the explosive situation in
the region. During his trip to Javakheti Margarian received a list of
demands from the local Armenian community to the Georgian government.
They were presented by leaders of the local civic organizations
Javakh, United Javakh-Democratic Alliance, and Virk. These groups
want the Georgian government to stop the alleged discrimination
of the Armenians, make the Armenian language the regional language
in Javakheti, stop the "Georgianization" of the region's Armenian
cultural heritage, begin construction of a highway connecting Javakheti
with Armenia (which the Armenian government is ready to finance),
register Virk as a political party, and include Armenia's history
in the curriculum of Armenian schools in Georgia. These Armenian
organizations insist on declaring the Armenian language as the second
state language in Georgia (home of about 300,000 ethnic Armenians)
or at least in Javakheti, and the adoption a special law on ethnic
minorities.

Margarian said that this year the Armenian government has allocated
$350,000 to support the Armenian schools in Javakheti and is ready
to increase funding if Tbilisi agrees. He also asked the Georgian
government to jointly determine the provenance of the churches in
the region, which are claimed by both religious groups.

Georgian Parliamentary Chair Nino Burjanadze told Margarian that the
provocateurs fueling enmity between Georgians and Armenians play into
the hands of the common enemy, evidently alluding to Russia. However,
there are reports that some radical Armenian organizations support
anti-Tbilisi activities in Javakheti.

Many analysts in Georgia believe that Tbilisi should handle the region
more carefully to avert new incidents. Soon after the collapse of the
USSR, some local Armenian leaders proposed political autonomy for the
region. But despite assistance from international donors to improve
the region's socio-economic situation, the Georgian government has not
been able to find a workable solution to the problem of "Javakheti
Armenians." That local Armenians distrust the central government's
policies complicates the situation (see EDM, March 23, May 24).

For example, the Russian military base in the region purchased large
quantities of local produce. But local leaders doubt Georgian President
Mikheil Saakashvili's proposal to feed the Georgian army with local
foodstuffs after the Russian base closes. The Armenian-populated
Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda regions boast an agricultural yield
that exceeds the dietary needs of the 20,000-strong Georgian army by
15-20 times.

Another irritation came one day after the Samsar incident, when the
Georgian armed forces completed the large-scale "Armor 2005" exercises
at the Orfolo range near Javakheti. Georgian Defense Minister Irakli
Okruashvili hinted that the fictional enemy "Blue Country," which
according to the scenario had temporarily seized a Georgian region,
was not fictional at all. "It exists for Georgia indeed," he said.

The Georgian media accuses the Javakh, United Javakh-Democratic
Alliance, and Virk civic movements of being behind the regions'
anti-Tbilisi mood. However, Virk leader David Rstakian claimed that
these organizations have actually prevented protests by the Armenian
community from escalating to the separatism seen in Abkhazia and
South Ossetia.

Vahan Chakhalian, leader of the United Javakh- Democratic Alliance,
which unites eight youth organizations, said that the Russian military
pullout leaves local Armenians defenseless. Chakhalian and other local
leaders have openly stated that they would retaliate if Georgian units
replace the Russian troops. They also object to a government-sponsored
plan to accommodate Georgian families in the region, which they
claim would artificially "Georgianize" Javakheti. "We have yet to
see whether the Georgian army enters here," Chakhalian warned.

Leaders of the local Armenian organizations argue that the local
authorities in Javakheti misinform Tbilisi about the real situation
in the region and the preferences of the local establishment. The
information vacuum and poor knowledge of Georgian laws by the locals,
caused by a lack of knowledge of Georgian language, is likely the root
of many problems. Giorgi Khachidze, the Tbilisi-appointed governor
of Javakheti, says that the methodology of teaching the Georgian
language needs to be improved. "The Georgian books in the Armenian
schools are getting dusty, because they don't need them," he said.

Meanwhile, the socio-economic problems in Javakheti are similar
to those in other Georgian regions. However, some local groups,
guided by external forces in Russia and Armenia, may be trying to
politicize these problems and prepare the ground for the region's
eventual separation from Georgia.

ETCHMIADZIN, AUGUST 3, ARMENPRESS: Archbishop Vazgen Mirzakhanian,
the leader of Georgian Diocese of Armenian Church traveled to the
village of Metz Samsar in the Akhalkalaki region of the southern
Georgia to re-consecrate St Astvatsatsin (Virgin) church on August 1.

Armenian Catholicosate said the church was reconstructed by the funds
provided by a Russia-based Samvel Barseghian, a grandson of priest
Barsegh who was the founder of the Samsar village. Georgian member
of parliament Hamlet Movsisian, Akhalkalaki mayor Nairi Iritsian and
others were present at the ceremony.

Metz Samsar village was founded by priest Barsegh in 1848. The St
Astvatsatsin church was built in 1850s and an earthquake in 1899
affected it heavily but in 1902 with the efforts of local population
it was restored. Besides the village has churches and khachkars
(cross-stones) dating back to 11-13th century.

POLICE QUASH ARMENIAN PROTEST IN SOUTHERN GEORGIA. Georgian police
resorted to violence on 5 October to break up a protest demonstration
by some 300 people in the predominantly Armenian-populated town of
Akhalkalaki, Caucasus Press reported. The demonstrators, some of whom
converged on Akhalkalaki from outlying villages, were protesting the
closure by Tax Police of 10 local stores, which local activists
interpreted as retaliation for the formal demand by the regions
Armenians last month for autonomous status (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 26
September 2005). Several demonstration participants have been
hospitalized after being beaten by police. LF (RFE/RL Newsline - 10/06/2005)

Panorama

15:54 07/10/05

TAX HUBBUB IN AKHALKALAKI

`The Tax officers from Akhaltsakha checked some ten shops in Akhalkalaki. In
some shops they found Armenian products without excises and closed them. The
result was that a group of people have gathered in front of the local
administrative building and organized the act of complain', said today the
administrative member of `Hzor Haireniq' party Shirak Torosyan commenting
the situation in Akhalqalaqi took place on October 5. `Then came newly
formed gendarmerie and fired in the air with guns. Fortunately there are no
victims. The head of Samtskhe-Javakheti (Akhalkalaki region) Georgi
Khachidze qualified it as a crime, and he has promised to punish the
criminals', added Shirak Torosyan.

Panorama.am was also interested in the nationality of gendarmes, and
concerning this question Mr. Torosyan answered, `They are all Armenians from
Akhalkalaki and neighboring villages'. /Panorama.am/

Akhalkalaki, the main town in the predominantly Armenian-populated
and Armenia-bordered Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia, was the
site of an anti-government protest rally on October 5. The incident
reaffirmed that this turbulent region remains unstable, despite the
Georgian government's efforts to normalize the situation there.

The unrest began after tax officials from Tbilisi, conducting a
routine inspection of local retailers, closed 10 shops for financial
irregularities. The shop owners, mostly ethnic Armenians, and about
300 supporters, evidently influenced by local provocateurs, gathered
outside the Akhalkalaki district administration building to protest
the alleged violation of the Armenians' rights. The protestors's
complaints quickly moved from economic issues to political demands
such as stopping the closure of Russian military bases and granting
political autonomy for the region.

Local police dispersed the rally using rubber truncheons and firing
shots in the air. The clash between the authorities and the protesters
left several people injured. The police efforts to break up the rally
instead prompted more residents of Akhalkalaki and nearby villages
to join the protest, making the situation even tenser.

Civic groups based in Samtskhe-Javakheti, as well as some Russian
sources, have alleged that the government deliberately planned
the brutal end to the protest in order to intimidate the local
Armenian population following local demands for political autonomy
in the region. A council of local non-governmental organizations,
meeting September 23-24, adopted a resolution calling on the Georgian
government to grant autonomy to the region (see EDM, September 29).

Javakhk-Info, the local news agency, distributed a bellicose statement
by regional Armenian non-governmental organizations saying that the
aggressive behavior by the Georgian authorities towards the region's
ethnic Armenians leaves them "no other choice than the use of force
to protect their interests and dignity" (Regnum, October 5).

However, a source in Georgian law enforcement told Kavkas Press that
the police shot into the air only after one of the protesters had
taken a shot first (Kavkas Press October 5).

Giorgi Khachidze, the presidentially appointed governor of the region,
managed to calm the angry crowd through negotiations.

Khachidze criticized the police for excessive use of force and
promised to hold some of them accountable. "In my opinion, they had no
right to fire shots, even in the air," he said (TV-Rustavi-2, October
6). Meanwhile, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili hailed the police
actions, saying, "there is no serious problem" and emphasizing that
law-enforcement officials were merely maintaining order in a region
that had been poorly controlled in recent years (TV-Imedi, October 6).

Saakashvili and other Georgian officials have tried to downplay the
latest events in Akhalkalaki, claming that the radical organizations
advocating autonomy for the region do not enjoy serious popular
support.

Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili told the Armenian
newspaper Aikakan Jamanak that Tbilisi welcomes autonomy
for Javakheti so long as that means no more than ordinary
self-governance. Merabishvili said he is not interested in the
Javakheti civic groups expressing political ambitions. "We are going
to listen to the elected deputies," he said (Regnum, October 6-7).

A diplomatic warning from Yerevan snapped the Georgian authorities out
of their complacency. On October 8, Garnik Isagulian, national security
aide to Armenian President Robert Kocharian, warned Tbilisi to show
restraint when dealing with the predominantly Armenian-populated
Samtskhe-Javakheti. Of the October 5 clash, Isagulyan commented,
"Georgian authorities should be extremely cautious and attentive
in their actions, because any minor provocation could turn into a
large-scale clash." Isagulian also dismissed rumors about Russian
intelligence playing a role in recent events in Samtskhe-Javakheti
(Regnum, Civil Georgia, October 8).

However, the Russian media's wide and largely biased coverage of
the October 5 unrest in Akhalkalaki, routinely voicing the Kremlin's
position, suggests that Russia is not a mere observer.

Georgian media have long speculated that Russia and several radical
Armenian groups are behind the provocations in Javakheti. Van Baiburt,
an Armenian member of the Georgian parliament, confirmed this in an
interview with GazetaSNG.ru. Meanwhile, Levon Mkrtichyan, from the
Armenian Dashnaktsutiun party, one of the alleged supporters of the
Javakheti radical organizations, insisted that Javakheti Armenians
advocate only for cultural autonomy.

The Armenian newspapers are increasingly linking the recent unrest
in Samtskhe-Javakheti with the construction of the Kars-Akhalkalaki
railway, which bypasses Armenia. They suggest that as Georgia
increases its ties with Azerbaijan and Turkey, Armenia may be left
isolated. Armenian papers also argue that if Georgia's national
interests conflict with those of Armenia, Tbilisi "should not be
astonished at the eruption of a natural expression of self-preservation
and self-defense among the Samtskhe-Javakheti population."

As the problem becomes increasingly complicated, Tbilisi will be
forced to act. When he visited Armenia on September 29-30, Georgian
Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli stated that Georgia would not implement
any programs directed against Armenia. Meanwhile, Nogaideli publicly
underlined that regional autonomy in Georgia is only available for
Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Ajaria.

Nogaideli's Armenian trip, coming on the heels of the demands
for autonomy in Samstkhe-Javakheti, suggests that stability in
Samtskhe-Javakheti greatly depends on Yerevan's good will, as
Tbilisi has always appealed to the Armenian government to mediate
serious disturbances in the region. Saakashvili's government, which
inherited the unresolved problems of Samtskhe-Javakheti from former
president Eduard Shevardnadze, follows the same pattern. Saakashvili,
like Shevardnadze, strives to resolve the region's problems with
short-term decisions (see EDM, March 23, May 24, August 3).

Meanwhile, Yerevan is gaining more leverage to manage the situation
in Samtskhe-Javakheti and may be clandestinely urging Tbilisi to
reconcile itself to this fact.

New Armenian Library Opened In Akhaltsikha

15:05, 25 December, 2012

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS: The official opening of "Vahram
Gayfechian" library kicked off in Samtse-Javakh region. As Armenian
Diocese of Georgia informed Armenpress, the chairman of the union
Alexander Igitkhanyan called the opening of the ceremony symbolic
and related it with the 500th anniversary of the first Armenian
printed book. The chairman of the Union of Armenian intellectuals
Ruben Torosyan and chairman of Armenian musicians in Georgia Artem
Kirakozov welcomed the gathered people. They high estimated the role
of the importance of the library in the frame of approximation the
young generation with Armenian literature. The event was concluded
by a blessing.